


A kiss like that

by VulpesVulpes713



Series: Fictober 2018 [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fictober 2018, First Kiss, Fluff without Plot, Love Confessions, M/M, Post S7, Post War, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 17:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16580471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VulpesVulpes713/pseuds/VulpesVulpes713
Summary: Prompt:"I've heard enough, this ends now."





	A kiss like that

It’s easy, finding him.

 

Easy because Keith knows all the hidden nooks and crannies the Garrison has to offer from his own time spent seeking them out. Granted, it still takes him a good twenty or so minutes of looking before he finds the boy on the rooftop, and Keith thinks with a sigh that he should have known to start their first.

 

Because despite their unorthodox and incredibly lengthy stay in space, Lance still holds a deep passion for the stars: for the vast, unending expanse of unknown above them.

 

It’s a quality that Keith wants to hate, but he finds himself doing the exact opposite.

 

 _Lance could always see the_ _beauty in things,_ he thinks as he slowly approaches.  _No matter how dark, or foul, or awful. He can look beyond it and see the light, the good, the worthy. I know because he did it to me…somehow._

 

So he sits, noticing the way Lance’s shoulders tense without taking his eyes off the sky.

 

They don’t speak, mostly because Keith isn’t sure how to start. He’s never been one to instigate conversation anyway. That was Lance’s job, and as the silence grows heavy between them, Keith realizes the extent to which he relied on those teasing remarks and offhand comments to get things going.

 

But he has to do  _something,_ because Lance is  _very obviously_  ignoring him, and the atmosphere around them is remarkably uncomfortable.

 

And the worst part is that Keith knows why.

 

“Lance-” he begins, the shape of his name familiar and bittersweet. “I…I didn’t mean what I said.”

 

And it takes a lot to admit that, so Keith is rightfully miffed when his words go unacknowledged.

 

But he continues regardless. He has to.

 

“I…” a breath, unnecessary but a plea for Lance to jump in and help him out that goes unanswered. “What I said back there, it came out wrong.”

 

“No shit,” Lance huffs, and it’s hurtful but it’s something. Keith clings to it as he turns to face the boy.

 

“I know that you like her. I know you have for a while, ever since we first met. But…when I said it wasn’t right-”

 

“I know what you meant,” Lance interrupts, finally removing his gaze from the heavens to stare down at his knees. “I heard you loud and clear. ‘You don’t belong with her. She’s not the one for you.’”

 

Keith flinches as he hears his own words quoted back, and focuses his attention to the ledge upon which they sit.

 

“It…I didn’t word it properly.”

 

“Keith,” Lance exhales, turning towards him for the first time with glassy eyes. The fight is gone from him now, replaced with a resigned acceptance that mellows his tone. “It’s okay. You were right anyway. Allura is too good for me. I would never be enough for her.”

 

“That’s not-!” Keith hastily intercedes, but the rest of his sentence is choked off as a tear spills down over Lance’s cheek, and the fire within him is extinguished just like that. He shuffles closer, and is only mildly comforted when Lance doesn’t move away. “You’re misinterpreting what I said. But that’s my fault.”

 

Lance doesn’t say anything, which Keith uses as encouragement to continue.

 

“Allura…doesn’t deserve you Lance. That’s what I meant to say. And it’s not because of you that I said you don’t belong with her.”

 

A laugh now, but it’s not humorous. It’s skeptical. Annoyed.

 

“It doesn’t matter anyway, Keith!” Lance spits, tucking his legs up to his chest as he does. “Because it all boils down to the same thing. Me and Allura…it won’t happen. I’m not who she deserves. I’m not a prince, or an Altean, or even that good of a pilot-”

 

“You’re wrong-” Keith attempts, but Lance doesn’t hear.

 

“I’m the goofball, right? The loser. The extra. I fill spots when they’re needed: a placeholder until someone better comes along. But I’m not complaining. I already knew those things. I’d accepted them. It’s just-” he trails off, but not long enough for Keith to provide any sort of reassurance. “Hearing someone else vocalize my doubts was tough. Especially when the someone…was you, I guess.”

 

He turns away, and Keith feels his chest pull taunt.

 

“I just thought that…maybe Allura would give me a chance. I thought maybe those smiles could mean something more. That she would look at me the way she did him-” he breaks off, shoulders sinking as he sighs deeply. “It doesn’t matter. You were right, as always. I don’t belong with her.”

 

 _That’s not what I meant…_ Keith thinks desperately, but it’s apparent now that Lance isn’t listening, so instead he changes tactics. Besides, he’s better with the straightforward approaches anyway.

 

_And **I’ve heard enough, this ends now**._

 

“You’re right,” he admits, watching Lance for any sort of reaction. “You don’t belong with her. You belong with someone else. Someone who will cherish you and choose you first no matter what. Someone who laughs at your dumb jokes and admires your stupidly big heart and-”

 

“And who do you suggest that person is!? Who could possibly want me-” Lance demands, eyes wet and frown prominent as he turns to face Keith, but his sentence is abruptly cut short.

 

Cut short because Keith leans forward and steals the remainder of whatever Lance had been about to say as their lips crash together. And there’s no other way to describe it, because Keith may or may not have misjudged the distance between them, and used more force than was necessary to convey his point.

 

But it’s still a kiss, by definition. Lips against lips, and at least his eyes are closed. It doesn’t last long enough to become anything noteworthy, as Lance leans back with a startled yelp,  hands moving to cover his mouth. There’s shock in his expression: brows furrowed and cheeks red, and Keith realizes too late that perhaps what he did was not the best course of action.

 

“I’m sorr-” he tries to say, but trails off as Lance loudly speaks over him.

 

“What was  _that?!”_

 

“I-” he panics, shuffling away as his own face burns in embarrassed regret. “I didn’t-”

 

_Oh no, god…what have I done-_

 

“Keith, look at me,” Lance demands, but Keith can’t. He  _can’t!_ He can feel the awkwardness descending, threatening to suffocate him slowly. “Keith!”

 

_Oh god…oh god!_

 

He shakes his head, tucking his knees to his chest as a refuge in which to hide his face. And there’s a moment of silence in which he holds his breath, waiting for something,  _anything_ , but Lance only sighs.

 

“Fine. Then at least answer a few questions.”

 

Keith doesn’t reply, but Lance takes his lack of response as a go-ahead.

 

“First, do…you like me?”

 

_Ah…crap._

 

He nods, not trusting his voice. There’s no use lying about his feelings now anyway.

 

“And-” Lance goes on, tone indiscernible, “do you think you’re the person I belong with? The one who will laugh at my jokes and…and choose me first?”

 

Keith can feel his insides igniting and he shuts his eyes tight. He  _does_ think he could be that person.  _Wants_  to be that person more than anything else, but all he can do is bite his tongue as he attempts to burrow deeper into his knees.

 

“Keith…?” Lance prods, voice lowered but loud enough to echo in Keith’s skull. Hearing his name murmured on those lips…it does things to his mind that override his senses. He nods again.

 

_Yes. I do._

 

He feels Lance settle closer in the resounding silence, side brushing up against his own as the boy exhales smoothly. It’s warm. Safe. He doesn’t want to ever lose that feeling.

 

“Wow…I had no idea,” Lance confesses softly. “Or well, maybe I did? And I was just afraid of admitting it to myself because, well-” he doesn’t finish the thought, but Keith could care less. He’s suffering as is.

 

_He doesn’t feel the same, I just know it…just-let me fall off this roof and die an easy death-_

 

“So, I guess for my final question…” Lance whispers, and Keith shivers as warm breath tickles his ear. “Was that supposed to be a kiss?”

 

Keith’s head whips up at that, staring in disbelief as Lance smiles over at him. But that’s all he can process, because the next thing he knows Lance’s hands are coming up to cradle his cheeks, bringing their faces close as his eyes slide shut.

 

And then they’re kissing. Again.

 

Only this time it’s  _infinitely_  better. Softer. Kinder. It’s everything Keith imagined but  _real,_ and the only downside is that it doesn’t last  _nearly_ long enough.

 

Lance leans back, moving his hands to Keith’s shoulders as he blinks his eyes open. His face is flushed, and he bites his lower lip self-consciously as his gaze flickers between the ground and a spot above Keith’s head.

 

“Yeah, that was  _much_ better. Your first attempt nearly took out a tooth.”

 

“Shut up,” Keith mumbles, but his own grin does little to support his curse.

 

_Holy shit…we just-he-_

 

“Do…you really mean it though?” Lance asks hesitantly, smile fading as fingers tighten in the fabric of Keith’s coat. “That you…like me? And that you want to, you know,  _be_  with me and stuff…?”

 

Keith thinks he nods. He feels his head bob up and down for a short moment, but any words he had to confirm Lance’s ponderings are lost as he pulls the boy back down to his lips. It’s the only answer he can give: the only one he  _wants_  to give. Conversations were never his forte anyway.

 

And it’s bliss. Absolute, pure bliss. But more than that it’s comfortable, which is something Keith doesn’t often experience. Lance has this way of making him feel relaxed, even when the situation doesn’t reflect that emotion. He’s a beacon that guides Keith through whatever troubles he’s gotten himself into. He’s strength that lends itself relentlessly: love that fills the cracks his heart could never repair.

 

He’s Lance, and Keith sinks into their kiss, chasing it, wanting it, more than air itself.

 

But it ends, as all good things do, and they break apart as Lance’s lips curl upwards into a wide grin. Keith leans back dizzy as the stars twinkle lazily overhead, wondering if he’s dreaming, or perhaps deceased. Because there’s no way anything could feel that good, that  _perfect-_

 

“Woah,” he hears himself mumble, and Lance’s giggles bring him back down to earth, reassuring him of their reality.

 

“I’ll take that as a yes?” he teases, nuzzling closer into Keith’s side as he does. Bubbles float up inside Keith’s chest, lifting him up and up as he smiles over at the boy with the blue eyes he’s loved for so long.

 

“If you’ll have me,” he confesses, voice breathy and weak. Because it can’t just be him.  

 

“As if I have a choice after a kiss like that,” Lance murmurs, and Keith has to grip tight to the edge of the roof to confirm that he is, in fact, still impacted by gravity.

 

“Good,” he whispers, biting back a grin. “Good.”

 

“Besides,” Lance goes on, resting his head on Keith’s shoulder as he turns his eyes back up to the stars. His fingers find Keith’s own, and wrap around them firmly. “You said you liked my dumb jokes. Where am I ever going to find someone like that?”

 

Keith snorts, rolling his eyes as he presses his cheek to the top of Lance’s head. He could tease back: deny that he ever said such a thing. But his heart is singing, and his thoughts are muddled, so instead he just says the first thing to pop into his head.

 

“You won’t,” he states, squeezing their hands tighter, “because we belong together.”

 

Lance nestles closer at that, sighing sleepily as he nods.

 

“You really think so?”

 

“Yeah,” Keith sighs happily, closing his eyes as his soul soars out over the horizon and into the space above them. The space that brought them closer, forced them apart, and made him realize just how special Lance was. How valuable. How important. And though Keith can’t look at the stars with the same admiration that Lance is able to after everything they’ve done, he thinks that perhaps he could thank them, for helping him believe in love again.

 

“Yeah,” he repeats softly, wondering why it took him so long to admit it. Wondering how he’s lived this long without kissing Lance before, or even holding his hand. Wondering what their future will hold now that he’s confessed, and they’ve established  _something_  beyond friendship. He’s scared, yeah, and nervous beyond description. But he’s also relieved. Joyful. He can face the uncertainty with Lance by his side, as he’s done countless times before.

 

Only now he gets to kiss him when he wants.

 

_Do I believe we belong together? That we were meant for each other?_

 

_Yeah. Call me crazy, or hopeless, or stupid, but-_

 

 “I really do.”


End file.
